Plate holder



5. T. HElFETZ PLATE HOLDER Feb. 2, 1965 Filed July 28, 1961 I INVENTOR 6 W ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofifice 3,158,229 Patented Feb. 2, 1965 3,168,229 PLATE HQLDER Sidney T. Heifetz, New York, N.Y. (1438 Parkchester Road, Bronx, N.Y.) Filed July 28, 1961, Ser. No. 127,547 2 Claims. (Cl. 22445) This invention relates to improvements in magazine type plate holders adapted for handling flatware en-masse and for presenting same for subsequent use.

More particularly, this invention relates to a type of plate holder adapted for stacked batch-transportation and stacked presentation for dispensing operations, of plates, saucers and the like, as is required in restaurants and similar places where such dishes are used in abundance.

One of the principal objects of the invention is the provision of a holder of the above mentioned character that is adapted for top and side loading of such dishes singly or plurally at one station, for example, a washing station; for securely retaining such dishes during transportation and deposit to another station, such as a dishing-out station; and for presenting a substantially full holder of dishes in a manner permitting convenient and expeditious manual removal of contents through the top and/ or through the side of the holder.

Another object of the invention is to present dishes at the dishing out station in a stacked vertically upright columnar manner convenient for grasping most sanitarily.

A further object is the production of a design, which in addition to the accomplishment of the above objectives, is simple and attractive in structure; light, practical, and easy to clean; efficient in use; and economical in manufacture.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent, and still others will be pointed out in the following detail description of one preferred form of the invention shown in the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a principal form of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation, in dishing-out mode.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan View.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side elevation in transport mode.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional side view of the lower portion of the holder in normal use showing the relative disposition of the plates in dishing-out" mode.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional detail of the bail hinge employed.

Referring to the drawing, the holder 10 is comprised of rod like elements bent and welded and otherwise formed into two principal components; a cylindrical cage-like basket member 12, and a bail-like handle member 14. The two members are hingedly joined together at the top of the basket at points off-set from a normal vertical center plane of the basket, the purpose of which will be more fully described hereinafter.

The basket 12 is adapted to support and embrace a column of plates and is formed by a multiplicity of substantially parallel and vertical cage rods 16 disposed within a substantially cylindrical form and disposed more than half way around such form. These rods are bent to provide a toe portion 18 at their bottom and radial portions 20 along their bottom but above the virtual resting plane 22 at the very bottom of the toe portions, as best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 3, these vertical rods, of which there are five shown in this preferred form, are substantially alike in general contour and function, except that two of such rods 16a, each on opposite sides of a vertical central plane XX are provided with outturned pintle portions 24 for attachment to the bail member 14. Another pair of vertical rods 16b, spaced from rods 16a are also disposed on opposite side of the plane XX. These rods terminate at the top of the basket as does the vertical rod 16c disposed in the plane X-X.

All of the rods 16a, 16b and 16c are embraced by and are welded to a ring-segment 26 at the top of the basket. Likewise, an intermediate ring-segment 28, similar in form, disposition and extent to the ring segment 26, and a similar lower ring-segment 30 are welded to the upright portions of the vertical rods 16 to stiffen same against bowing. A complete ring 32 is disposed inside the vertical rods near their bottoms and above the toe portion thereof.

Contiguous with the rod and in the plane XX and along the bottom, is a foot member 34 which is bent to form a toe portion 36 and a radial portion 38. This latter mentioned toe portion is similar to the other mentioned toe portions of the mentioned vertical rods and is larger than the toe portion of the rod 16c with respect to which it is directly opposite. This foot member 34 terminates at the ring 32 to which it is welded to same at 40. There is no vertical rod counter-part at this point leaving a vertically open arcuate space between the vertical rods 16a. The chord of this space is, however, less than the diameter of the containable plates, as shown by the dot and dash circle 41, FIG. 3, thus preventing the removal of plates horizontally between these bars 16a.

As seen best in FIGS. 2 and 3, the toe 36 is higher than the toe 18, and the radial portions of the rods are arranged to lie in the same plane immediately below the plane of the ring 32 which, being inclined, requires that the toes of the rods 16b and 16a be proportionally larger than the toe 18 depending upon the inclination prescribed by the height of the toes 18 and 36 and their disposition with respect thereto. With this arrangement the plates are urged to repose in the direction opposite to the arcuate space.

The radial portions 20 of the upright rods 16 and the radial portion 38 of the foot member 34 may be joined together at their inner ends as by welding to each other or they may be welded to a central ring 52. An intermediate ring 54, disposed between the inner ring 52 and the outer ring 32, is welded to the radial portion to stiffen the bottom structure of the basket upon which the weight of contained plates is subject.

The dishes 50 are substantially of the same diameter or preferably slightly smaller than that of the outer ring and, due to the inclination or pitch of the bottom structure and the vertical disposition of the upright vertical rods 16, a plurality of dishes placed within the basket becomes faired or askewed as seen in FIG. 5 where this pitch is shown slightly exaggerated for clarity of this feature. This enables easier fingering of the plates in the course of manual removal from the basket.

As seen in FIG. 3, the upright rods 16b are disposed approximately 50 degrees away from the rod 160 and the rods 16a are disposed approximately 50 degrees away from the vertical rods 16b. This places the rods 16a in the second, and third quadrant, slightly and equally away from the central Y-Y plane, substantially coincident with the center of gravity of a loaded basket.

The bail 14 is substantially semi-arcuate and may be composed of bent rod of the same character as that of which the basket is made and is of such size as to lie outside of the confines of the projected area of the stacked plates when the device is in dishing-on use as seen in FIG. 2.

The ends 60 of the bail are looped as at 62 to form eyes embracing the pintles 24. The ends of the pintles on the outside of the loops, are provided with washers 64 which are retained in place against the loops by rivet- 3 ing as at 68 at the ends of the pintles, as seen in FIG. 6. Referring to FIG. 3, it will be noted that the rings 32, 54 and 52 are drawn circularly but actually in a true plan view they are slightly elliptical, with only a very small difference between their major axes along YY, and their minor axes along XX, because of the very slight inclination of their plane in projected view. The rods are, therefore, disposed in an elliptical cell of bars but, inasmuch as the diameter of the plates were somewhat smaller than the minimum confines of the vertically barred barriers of such an elliptical cell, they may be manually inserted and lowered one or more at a time, or likewise raised into and removed out of the basket in substantially horizontal disposition.

When resting on the bottom, circular plates would also appear similarly elliptical due to their inclination with respect to top viewing.

However, despite this manner of illustration, circular width slightly less than the Width of the containable plates whereby a chordal portion of the stacked plates project therefrom, and a bail-like handle pivotally attached to the basket outward of the chordal attachment points substantially where the sides of the side opening meet the top opening, said handle being adapted to be supported across the top of said basket and to lie substantially horizontally and entirely outside the projected confines of said containing passageway outlines, whereby an uninterruptable passage of the plates through the top opening is afforded when the said handle is in said non-carryable horizontal position.

2. In a carryable magazine-type dish holder of the character described, adapted for top loading and unloading of circular plates, and for containing said plates in a vertical columnar stack with the plates in contact one upon another, the combination of a basket having an open top, said open top being of the shape of the or other shaped plates cannot be withdrawn from the i basket directly sidewise while in ahorizontally disposed manner since the chordal distance between the vertical bars 16a is smaller than'the diameter or breadth of the plates, but, 'by twisting of the wrist of one or more grasped and raised plate or plates to the orientation as shown at 80, their diameters or breadth distance are foreshortened in the Y-Y direction, whereupon they can be removed horizontally and directly sidewise from the confines of such caged cell having such vertically disposed confining cage bars 16a.

With this construction and arrangement the plates cannot slide out of the basket under intentional or accidental tilting as may occur in the normal handling of the basket from station to station as aforementioned.

As seen in FIG. 4, when the basket is manually carried by its bail handle, the basket hangs in a leaning mode and the pivot at 82 is verticallyaligned with the center of gravity as at 84 of the illustrated partially loaded basket.

With a full load of plates the amount of leaning increases slightly clockwise since the vertical plane would pass through the points 82 and 86, the latter being the approximate center of gravity of a full basket of plates.

Having thus described my invention with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof it is apparent that minor changes in form may be had without departing from the principles embraced.

What I desire to claim is:

1. In a carryable magazine-type gdish holder of the character described" adapted for top loading and unloading of plates, and for containing said plates in a vertical columnar stack with the plates in contact, one upon another, the combination of a basket having an open circular top, the containing passageway outlines of said basket and said open top being of such size and shape as to closely conform to the outline of said plates, said basket having an opening in the side communicative with said top opening, said side opening being of plates contained and having an opening in the side of the basket communicative with the said top opening, said sideopening being of width slightly less than the diameter of the containable plates, and a bail-like handle pivotally attached to the basket at points along a chord across the top of the basket, substantially where the sides of the side opening meet the top opening, said pivotal points being disposed in the chordal plane of the side opening and outward of the ends of the said chord, said handle in the non-carryable position being substantially horizontally disposed above and across the top of the basket and across the diameter parallel to said pivots, said handle being of such size and configuration whereby all parts thereof including its pivot portions are adapted to lie outside the projected area of the top opening, whereby an uninterrupted passageway above and substantially beyond the basket top for rapid hand loading and hand unloading of grasped plates is aflorded.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 687,619 11/01 Couse.

995,486 6/ 11 Schaumburg. 1,093,450 4/ 14 McLaughlin 224-45 .7 1,965,726 7/ 34 Smith 224-46 2,206,083 7/ 40 Feibelman 224-45 .7 2,544,053 3/51 Sharaf. 211-41 2,765,111 10/56 Vaughn.

2,790,556 4/57 Burt. 2,867,364 1/59 Bramante.

FOREIGN PATENTS 14,915 7/04 Great Britain.

HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner. MORRIS M. FRiTZ, MORRIS TEMIN, Examiners. 

1. IN A CARRYABLE MAGAZINE-TYPE DISH HOLDER OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED ADAPTED FOR TOP LODING AND UNLOADING OF PLATES, AND FOR CONTAINING SAID PLATES IN A VERTICAL COLUMNAR STACK WITH THE PLATES IN CONTACT, ONE UPON ANOTHER, THE COMBINATION OF A BASKET HAVING AN OPEN CIRCULAR TOP, THE CONTAINING PASSAGEWAY OUTLINES OF SAID BASKET AND SAID OPEN TOP BEING OF SUCH SIZE AND SHAPE AS TO CLOSELY CONFORM TO THE OUTLINE OF SAID PLATE SAID BASKET HAVING AN OPENING IN THE SIDE COMMUNICATIVE WITH SAID TOP OPENING, SAID SIDE OPENING BEING OF WIDTH SLIGHTLY LESS THAN THE WIDTH OF THE CONTAINABLE PLATES WHEREBY A CHORDAL PORTION OF THE STACKED PLATES PROJECTS THEREFROM, AND A BAIL-LIKE HANDLE PIVOTALLY ATTACHED TO THE BASKET OUTWARD OF THE CHORDAL ATTACHMENT POINTS SUBSTANTIALLY WHERE THE SIDES OF THE SIDE OPENING MEET THE TOP OPENING, SAID HANDLE BEING ADAPTED TO BE SUPPORTED ACROSS THE TOP OF SAID BASKET AND TO LIE SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTALLY AND ENTIRELY OUTSIDE THE PROJECTED CONFINES OF SAID CONTAINING PASSAGEWAY OUTLINES, WHEREBY AN UNINTERRUPTABLE PASSAGE OF THE PLATES THROUGH THE TOP OPENING IS AFFORDED WHEN THE SAID HANDLE IS IN SAID NON-CARRYABLE HORIZONTAL POSITION. 